How to Hustle Your Way into a Club West Seat During Finals Week

With finals barreling toward us, anyone who has been in Library West recently knows that it’s a frenzied mess. There are zero seats and everyone in the library is dealing with a potent mix of urgency and desperation. Clearly every seat has a warm body to call its own but you have some finals to study for, maybe even a paper to write, and you need to isolate yourself in the Library for twelve straight hours. There are methods you can employ to get yourself that cherished seat—they may not be particularly ethical, but sometimes boundaries have to be crossed.

5.) Brute Force:

This method is by far the simplest and most brutish (hence the name) way to get a seat. In sports, when you have a size advantage over your opponent, you’re supposed to use your size and strength to win the game. It might not be proper in a civilized society, but just get in there and push your target away from the desk slowly. After a while you’ll have displaced them. Now you might get kicked out for behavior that is inappropriate for a library, but the ends justify the means.

4.) Stare Them Down:

Humans have this unique instinct where we can innately feel when we’re being stared at. We’re going to use that to our advantage, but maybe get a little more direct with the approach. If someone is in a seat that you want, get directly into their line of sight and stare at them. Do not blink and do not stop staring at them until they become so uncomfortable they leave. Naturally, you’re going to want to stop staring when it begins to get awkward and uncomfortable—don’t do it. Be steadfast, embrace the awkward and earn that seat.

3.) The Camp Out:

Library West is open 24 hours a day. To the casual observer this just means that they accommodate all of the all-nighters and the studiers willing to grind until 4 a.m. To us, however, this means more options to game plan your way into a guaranteed seat. If you show up to Club West with your pillow and a blanket at 5 a.m. and take a power nap, you’ll wake up and find yourself in the most prime real estate in Gainesville during finals week.

2.) The Awkward Sit Down:

If you really went through the entire library, you would see that there may be seats open—they just happen to be at the table of someone who has fully hunkered down to study. This is finals week, so normal social conventions are currently on hold. Get super bold and sit down at the table, throw caution to the wind and embody the DGAF mindset. There may be an uncomfortable silent tension but it’s totally worth it.

1.) Reserve the Study Rooms:

Turns out you can reserve the study rooms at Library West ahead of time, and just kick out anyone who is occupying your study room. That’s empowering. We ended with this because it’s the easiest way to get a seat. However, you’re going to have to be thinking way ahead to make this work, because those reservations fill up quick.

Now that you have foolproof methods to secure your seat at the library, get out there and get grinding. Finals are coming.